Counting mechanism.



H. G. MoOALLUM.

COUNTING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED FEB.9,1905.

INVENTUR HENRY 0. Mo DALLUM 735 ATTORNEYS.

PATENTED JAN. 23, 1906.

- ple in the drawings HEI RY (J. MOCALLUM, OF MONTREAL, CANADA.

COUNTING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 23, 1906.

'Application filed February 9, 1905- Serial No. 244,961.

T0 at whom 6,711 114 (f/HLCPI'IL:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. MCCALLUM, of the city of l\lontreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Counting Mecl'ianisms; and I (lo-hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of mechanical devices which are for the purpose of recording or counting the products of certain machines, and more particularly of that type of machine known as a printing-press. Every person skilled in the operation of such devices as have heretofore been employed on'such machines recognizes the importance of some such device as will operate only when the articles made by the machine are ejected from it.

One object of my invention is the construction of a means for counting the articles produced by a machine which will be operated only when such articles are made or successfully treated by the machine.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device having the aforesaid advan tages which is sim 1e and of few parts, adaptable for easy app ication to any desired machine, and adjustable thereon, so as to meet the varying requirements of such machines.

A still further object of my invention is to create a device which will successfully count relatively thin and flexible obj ectssuch, for example, as bags of cloth or other material, sheets of paper, &c.

Further objects and advantages will appear upon reference to the following description and claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in Which Figure 1 is a view taken in perspective, showing my device as applied to the ordinary type of bag-printing machine, having certain parts omitted which form no part of my invention. Fig. 2 is. an end elevation of the same machine, showing in full lines the be 'inning of a count and in dotted lines the final positions assumed by the parts of the device.

In both figures of the drawin s similar letters denote similar parts throug out.

A denotes feed-rollers over which the bags are fed after being printed in the printingpress. In the press shown by way of examthe rollers are separated, so as to allow the swinging arms B to pass between them toward the axle, thereby somewhat facilitating the feeding of the ba s onto the arms B. It is obvious, however, t at the rolls A may be replaced by a continuous cylinder or any other desirable substitution of mechanical elements having for their purpose the feeding of the product of the machine without atl'ecting the breadth or scope of my invention. These arms B receive the bags upon their upper ends and then immediately swing downward about the axle M and deposit the bags in a heap upon the table P. The arms are actuated by a moving rod through the lever N. It is apparent that the bags 0 are retained upon the arms through the pressure resulting from the movement against the air.

Ileretofore the counter K has been actuated by a positive connection with the 1nachine under an assumption that the bags would be fed positively and continuously; but experience soon demonstrated that the bags frequently from various causes failed to be fed, thus causing an erroneous count which was of very little value. In some instances an attempt to remedy this defect has been made by providing a throw-off to be operated by the attendant in cases of failure to feed; but it is clear that such an expedient can only be of partial value. as will speedil 'be seen, can operate only when a bag is ted. The arms D are ad'ustably afiixed to the revoluble shaft by swinging feed-arms B that they do not interfere in their respective movements, the arms D bein spaced so as to occupy spaces between the armsB. At the end of the shaft F is a crank-arm G, to the end of which is affixed the cord H, which completes the connection with the counter K through its arm I. It is clear that any form of counter may be used in connection with my device.

From the fore oing it will be seen that whenever a bag of flexible material or otherwise passes over the feed-rollers and onto the arms B, these. arms B in turn swinging down onto the table P, then the bag or whatever material is bein fed will interfere with the arms D and lift them into the position shown by dotted lines, and thereby turn the crankarm so as to cause the counter to register. This device may be constructed so that very little force will be required to operate it, and it is therefore perfectly adapted to operate u on the thinnest of materia such as paper.

en such materials are undergoing movement upon the arms B, they. are ressed against them by the air-pressure wit 1 some My invention,

means of thumb-screw in such relation to the I little force, and will consequently ollcr considerable resistance to longitudinal sliding displacement, which, as will be seen, is the resultant effect of the contact with the count ing-arms I).

I have shown and described my counting mechanism as adapted for use with the arms B. It is to be understood that the full scope of my invention is not limited specilicallyto this combination; but it is to be understood that broadly my invention comprises such systems as will operate to count through the contacting with the registering mechanism of the articles which are to be counted.

The great benefit arising from the use of this improved counting mechanism and the saving of time and labor el'l'ected thereby will be obvious to any one at all familiar with the attaclnnents commonly used at present for such purpose and need not, therefore, be further described. i

I claim- 1. In a counting mechanism, a series of spaced feed-arms mounted on acommon axle, a series of spaced contact-arms also mounted on a common axle, said contact-arms positioned to occupy the spaces between said feed-arms, a registering means attached to the contact-arm axle and independently-0perated means for feeding articles against the contact-arms.

v 2. In a counting mechanism, a series of contact-arms mounted on a common axle, registering mechanism mounted adjacent thereto, means for actuating the registering mechanism by .the oscillation of said axle in combination with a series of feeding-arms positioned to occupy the spaces between said contact-arms and operated independently of said counting mechanism.

3. In a printing-machine, a series of spaced feed arms mounted on a common axle, means for supplying articles to be counted to said feed-arms, in combination with a registering mechanism actuated by the oscillation of an axle carrying contact'arms spaced between the feedarms.

4. In a mechanism for printing and counting articles, a series of spaced feed-arms, means for applying articles to be counted to said feed-arms, in combination with a count ing mechanism actuated by the oscillations of an axle carrying contact-arms arranged to be.

free from-interference with the feeding-arms and adapted for operation only by contact with articles carried thereon, substantially as described.

Signed at Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, this 21st day of January, 1905.

H. C. MCCALLUM.

In presence of- J. E. BONNER, T. MULLANY. 

